Man faces both local and federal child pornography charges

EVANSVILLE - A man already facing child molesting charges in Vanderburgh County was indicted on child pornography charges Thursday by a federal grand jury in Evansville.

Jack Perkins III, 27, will be tried separately in the cases and if found guilty in both, a federal judge would decide whether Perkins should serve the sentences consecutively or at the same time, said United States Attorney Joseph Hogsett. Prosecutors said he could face stiff sentences in both cases.

The federal grand jury found there was enough evidence to charge Perkins with one count of possessing child pornography and nine counts of trading or transmitting images which Hogsett described Thursday as depicting the sexual abuse of multiple children below age 5.

Perkins faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted of the possession charge and up to 20 years for each charge of transmitting child pornography. In the federal system inmates must serve at least 85 percent of a sentence before they are eligible for parole.

He is scheduled to be tried on child molesting and criminal confinement charges in Vanderburgh Circuit Court on Feb. 25. If convicted, Perkins could face a 20- to 50-year sentence for child molesting and a 6- to 20-year sentence for confinement, said Vanderburgh County Prosecutor Nicholas Hermann. Because of age the victim in the child molesting case, Perkins would have to serve 85 percent of his sentence instead of the usual 50 percent, before he would be eligible for release. In addition, the child molesting and confinement sentences also could be ordered served consecutively if a judge finds it was a crime of violence.

According to an Evansville Police Department affidavit, Perkins confessed to police that he who drove a maroon-colored car with tinted windows up to two children playing outside, got out and asked one of the children, who was 9, to get a paper out of the car. When the child went to do so, he shut the door and drove off. Police said Perkins molested the child inside the car near the intersection of Elliott Street and Maxwell Avenue.

Police said that after a description of the man and car were made public, they received three tips from people who said it matched Perkins. When an officer went to Perkins' address, he found a vehicle which matched the child's description in the driveway and that it was owned by Perkins.

After Perkins was taken to police headquarters and questioned, he confessed to molesting the child and also to similarly putting another child into his car and molesting him near Garvin Park on another occasion, according to the arrest affidavit.